Minshuku Ryokan Maruha Hamatou Obama

... a natinal treasure. So much more natinal and international tourists may visit Himeji castle. In my opinion, however, Hikone castle was better than Himeji in its historical appearance, although it was a little bit younger than Himeji. It is sure that Himeji is very beautiful with whity appearance like a heron, but I felt that it was too organized for visitors. On the other hand, Hikone has something to make us feel nostalgia like mossy ramparts, an ...

Konichi-wa, weiter ging es nach Hikone, nur 15 minuten mit dem (normalen) Zug entfernt von Nagahama (aber auf der anderen Seite von Maibara). In Hikone steht eine der originalen Burgen von Japan, 1622 erbaut. Einiges wurde abgerissen, aber der zentrale Turm hat ueberdauert und steht heute noch (und die abgerissenen Gebaeude wurden auch nicht wieder neu aufgebaut). Ausserdem gibt es einen Garten, der zur Burg gehoert, Genkyu-en ...

... Nun ja, nicht besonders begeisternd, die Japaner haben das ganze in eine Shopping Mall umgebaut in der Hoffnung, dass viele Touristen kommen (ich kann das nicht beurteilen, ich war zu frueh dort:-) Attached ausserdem noch ein paar Shinkansen Bilder und zwei Filme, der erste zwischen Maibara und Kyoto und der zweite zwischen Kyoto und Osaka. Gruss Ralf

... point) is a metropolis, and I haven't seen anything similar to Tokyo since I left Feb 04. Other major cities I've visited don't really build UP, with vertical signs. DC, for example, is defintely low and wide. Finally after leaving the airport, I saw the fashion that is distinctly Japanese and can hardly EVER be found in DC , or maybe all of the U.S. Men wear tight pants with chains and a leather purse hanging off a shoulder. Their highlighted hair is styled ...

... in Japan) to sit with other official folks of the school and drink tea while the parents jam packed themselves into the gym. A few minutes before start time we were walked through a back door and seated right up front in our own private area with a wonderful view of the stage. The kids came out, sang songs, and played instruments and generally just had fun. None of that strict marching ...

... but entertainers who train for years to become a geisha, learning exquisite etiquette and charming banter . They have to specialise in an art, be it singing, dancing, whatever, and they are very exclusively hired to entertain, mainly for rich business men and women I think. They reckon there's around 100 geisha left in Kyoto and about 80 apprentice geisha (maiko). We were told the best time to spot one was late afternoon or in the evening when they ...

... city individually. And of course, since pictures are worth a thousand words, I'll be trying to use as many as I can! We took an overnight bus from Tokyo to Kyoto, arriving there on Thursday morning. The bus dropped us off at 5:15 AM! It was dark and cold and we were tired and hungry - not our best moment, haha. We had breakfast at a 24-hour restaurant while we tried to organize some goals for the day. We began by visiting a Buddhist temple - one of the largest wooden buildings in Japan ...

... het Keizerrijk tussen 749 en 1868 en wordt gezien als het culturele hart van Japan. Oftewel, je struikelt er over de tempels. Een grote stad met een hoop hoge, betonnen gebouwen als je de stad inkomt vanuit het station. Maar als je even doorloopt en van de grote drukke winkelstraten de zijstraatjes ...

... it downtown to stroll around old fashioned Pontocho and Gion. Unfortunatley there were no Geisha or Maiko about in Gion, so we did more shopping. Around the corner from Gion, in the direction of Kiyomizudera, we found 2 stores with absolutley gorgeous yukatas, handbags, traditionally inspired clothing for the modern day. Almost all were hand stitched and highly detailed, with exorbitant prices to match. We had a cheap udon noodle dinner then hit the sack earlyish.

... land available in Japan for cemeteries that they do not Burr people. They cremate them and then rent a spot in the cemetery for 40 years at a time, placing the box of ashes inside the bottom of the monument. If the family does not pay for the next 40 years, the box of ashes are ...